Argentina - Measures Affecting the Importation of Goods (WT/DS438, WT/DS444, WT/DS445): Reports of the Appellate Body

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Argentina appeals certain issues of law and legal interpretations developed in the Panel Reports, Argentina – Measures Affecting the Importation of Goods (Panel Reports). The European Union appeals certain issues of law and legal interpretations developed in the Panel Report WT/DS438/R (EU Panel Report), and Japan appeals certain issues of law and legal interpretations developed in the Panel Report WT/DS445/R (Japan Panel Report). The Panel was established to consider complaints by the European Union, the United States, and Japan (the complainants) with respect to measures taken by Argentina affecting the importation of goods.

Among the measures challenged by the complainants were: (i) Argentina's imposition on economic operators of one or more trade-related requirements (TRRs) constituting a single unwritten measure (TRRs measure); and (ii) the procedure through which Argentina requires an Advance Sworn Import Declaration (Declaración Jurada Anticipada de Importación) (DJAI) for any imports for consumption in Argentina.

The complainants identified the following five TRRs: (i) to export a certain value of goods from Argentina related to the value of imports; (ii) to limit the volume of imports and/or reduce their price; (iii) to refrain from repatriating funds from Argentina to another country; (iv) to make or increase investments in Argentina (including in production facilities); and/or (v) to incorporate local content into domestically produced goods.

According to the complainants, the single TRRs measure:

a. consists of a combination of one or more of the five identified TRRs;

b. is an unwritten measure that is not stipulated in any published law, regulation, or administrative act, but is instead either reflected in agreements signed between specific economic operators and the Argentine Government, or contained in letters addressed by economic operators to the Argentine Government;

c. is imposed on economic operators in Argentina as a condition to import or to obtain certain benefits;

d. is enforced by withholding permission to import through, inter alia, the DJAI procedure; and

e. is imposed by the Argentine Government with the objective of eliminating trade deficits and increasing import substitution.